


Until We Meet Once More

by thebiwholived



Category: Supernatural
Genre: AU, M/M, Mpreg
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-18
Updated: 2013-11-18
Packaged: 2018-01-02 00:32:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 869
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1050413
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thebiwholived/pseuds/thebiwholived
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Every time after Benny ships out, Dean puts on his husband’s sweatshirt.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Until We Meet Once More

**Author's Note:**

> Set within an au by [thedevilisinthewinchester](http://thedevilisinthewinchester.tumblr.com/post/64461526724/so-i-may-or-may-not-have-wrote-a-fic-based-off-of) on tumblr in which Benny is in the navy and he and Dean are married. Title comes from the revised lyrics of Anchors Aweigh, the official song of the U.S. Navy.

Every time after Benny ships out, Dean puts on his husband’s navy sweatshirt and lets the comforting smell of the sea and something slightly earthy that’s so completely _Benny_ settle his aching heart.

When he rolls over in the middle of the night and reaches out to find the bed empty next to him, he knows he won’t be sleeping anymore so he gets up and slips Benny’s sweatshirt over his head and puts their favorite movie on. When it’s over, he starts it again and watches it two more times before the sun comes up, streaming across the blankets and warming Benny’s side of the bed.

Occasionally, when Dean’s feeling really down, he’ll wear it and turn on the TV for background and cook his way through three or four recipes from the Cajun cookbook Benny bought and obsessed over in the first few months they were married. The food usually sits in the fridge until it spoils because Benny isn’t there to eat it and Dean isn’t so hungry when he gets like this, but it makes him feel a little better.

During the summer, it just gets too damn hot to keep the sweatshirt on all the time, so he switches it out for one of the t-shirts Benny keeps in his dresser, the words “U.S. Navy” emblazoned in a cheery yellow across the chest. It’s something, but it’s not quite the same and as soon as the weather cools enough the sweatshirt goes right back on.

Eventually the wear and tear takes a toll and little holes start to form: at the cuff of the right sleeve, under an armpit, that spot on the back where Dean accidentally snagged it on a nail. He spends an entire day researching sewing techniques and another three practicing on scraps of material before he attempts it on Benny’s shirt. He doesn’t make any mistakes and it holds through the wash and Dean has to admit he’s a little proud of himself.

Some of his buddies recruit him to help out an older lady who’s moving across town and when she sees what he’s wearing, she asks him if he’s in the service. Dean kind of blushes and chuckles a bit and tells her “No, my husband.” She gushes and asks all sorts of questions and they end up talking about Benny for an hour, where he was deployed and what his job is on the ship and what his and Dean’s wedding was like and how they’ve decided to start trying for a baby the next time Benny comes home.

Once, for lack of anything better to do, Dean sorts through boxes of random stuff that never got unpacked when he and Benny moved into the house and comes across a picture of his mom. She’s beautiful and glowing, like an angel, and she’s wearing one of Dad’s USMC shirts. He’d forgotten she used to wear those. Dean smiles.

When he gets pregnant with Annamarie, he wears that old sweatshirt until he’s twenty-six weeks in and his baby bump starts stretching it out too much, but Benny’s gone again and won’t be back until after their baby girl is born, so sometimes he can’t help but clutch it to his chest when he goes to sleep at night, curling his body around his ever-growing stomach.

The day after the baby’s born and he no longer has a basketball settled around his waist, he puts it on like he hasn’t been able to do in months and holds his brand new child close, letting his daughter breathe in whatever’s left of the scent of her Papa. She won’t get to meet him for another month yet.

When Annamarie wakes him up at three in the morning, wailing and squirming, Dean drags himself out of bed and grabs the shirt off the chair in the corner before shuffling over to her crib, still half-asleep, and wrapping her up in it, her tiny little body drowning in the soft material. He cuddles her to his chest and rubs her back and hums "Stairway to Heaven" until she calms down.

After what seems like an eternity, it’s time for Benny’s ship to come in, so Dean washes the shirt for the first time in a while and puts it on fresh out of the dryer, warm and soft and safe in a way that reminds him of Benny’s strong arms. He gathers up his baby girl and makes the twenty-minute drive to the dock, his stomach in knots and his nerves rippling through him, forcing him to white-knuckle the steering wheel to keep his hands from shaking.

When Benny finally makes it off the boat and pushes his way through the waiting crowd, Dean smiles with tears in his eyes and hands over the wriggling pink bundle in his arms to her Papa, who can’t seem to do much but stare at his little girl and sob, but that’s more than okay because just having Benny there is so much better than the faint echo the well-worn sweatshirt offered and Dean knows the two of them will have their moment later, a whole forever of moments, Dean and his brave sailor.


End file.
